Rajshahi Royals captain Andre Russell and their officials pose for a photograph during a jersey unveiling ceremony at a city hotel on Tuesday. — Courtesy photo
Three participating teams in the Bangabandhu Bangladesh Premier League on Tuesday placed their faith on foreign recruits instead of local players for the role of captaincy in the new edition of the tournament, starting today in Mirpur.
Rangpur Rangers announced Afghan all-rounder Mohammad Nabi as their skipper for the tournament while Rajshahi Royals and Cumilla Warriors made West Indies all-rounder Andre Russell and Sri Lankan all-rounder Dasun Shanaka for the job respectively.
All three teams had local players like Soumya Sarkar, Sabbir Rahman, Liton Das, Farhad Reza and Mustafizur Rahman, but their lack of experience of leading in such a tournament led the teams to pick foreign captains.
‘Thanks to the management side for trusting me as the captain for Rangpur Rangers,’ Nabi told reporters in a jersey unveiling ceremony in Mirpur.
‘It is not new to me in Bangladesh. For last eight to nine years, I’m playing every year in Bangladesh. I have played in Dhaka, Chattogram and Sylhet everywhere. I know the condition and everything,’ he added.
Rangpur skipper Russell said he felt honoured by getting such responsibility and claimed that he was ready to take the challenge.
‘I am honoured to be given the responsibility of leading the team. Regardless, I always look at myself as a player in the heat. I have a very big role in any team I play for,’ he said.
‘It is going to be something new for me outside the Caribbean. I have led Jamaica Tallawahs before. It will be interesting and I am up for a challenge,’ he added.
Rajshahi have a mix of experienced all-rounders in likes of Shoaib Malik, Ravi Bopara and Russell himself and the 31-year old said they wanted to use their experience to perform well in the competition.
‘I won’t say we have the best squad but we have a good team on paper. It is a good start for any captain, coach and any team. We want to use the experience of each player, which will put us in the right foot,’ he said.
Sylhet Charger however named Bangladeshi all-rounder Mosaddek Hossain as their skipper for the tournament on the same day.
Mashrafee bin Murtaza will lead Dhaka Platoons while Mahmudullah and Mushfiqur Rahim will captain Chattogram Challengers and Khulna Tigers respectively in the special edition of BPL.
‘We know from the beginning that it is a challenging tournament. As captain, I feel that a challenge is awaiting us also. We will play to win. The challenge of winning is the biggest challenge according to me,’ said Mosaddek.
Source: New Age.
